Cumulus Media Pulls Support Of The Podcast Movement

Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro’s appearance and the Podcast Movement’s subsequent apology for his presence became the headline story during the podcast group’s convention in Dallas last month. Now a month later the story has taken a new turn.

Cumulus Media, Westwood One’s parent has decided to 'disassociate' itself from any Podcast Movement activities in 2023 … maybe longer.  Shapiro's syndication is managed by Westwood One.

The convention, was a gathering  of  podcasters and industry professionals.

Shapiro, the host of The Ben Shapiro Show podcast, showed up in Dallas at a booth for The Daily Wire, the content production company and podcast network he founded after he left Breitbart in 2016.

Shapiro’s presence generated a critical response from attendees who objected to his views. From there, the discussion spilled over into the Twittersphere.

In a tweet , the Podcast Movement apologized for Shapiro’s appearance. “Though he was not registered or expected, we take full responsibility for the harm done by his presence,” the tweet read. Complaints about Shapiro's appearance came from some other participants, including members of the alphabet community, which led the Podcast Movement Tweet an apology.  That apology has been quietly removed from Twitter.  

The apology set off a firestorm of its own, with Podcast Movement slow to respond to criticism of its now-deleted social media commentary deriding Shapiro.

Yesterday, we reported leaders of the Movement appeared to be going back to the drawing board. At least it seems so after they posted this on Twitter Friday:

We’re listening to our Podcast Movement community - many who’ve been with us since the start. We’re putting in place policies to guide our social media & events with inclusivity, diversity & respect for all. It’s a journey. We’ll keep listening, keep growing together.

— Podcast Movement (@PodcastMovement) September 2, 2022

In a statement Tuesday, Cumulus Media shared that its tenet is that Every Voice Matters. As such, the company said, “We support conferences and trade events where differing political viewpoints can be expressed and received with respect. As such, we were dismayed and disappointed by Podcast Movement’s handling of the reaction to our partner, top podcaster, and conservative talk leader Ben Shapiro’s mere presence at Podcast Movement.”

After giving the leaders of Podcast Movement what Cumulus believes is sufficient time “to appropriately address their misstep,” Cumulus announced that it is “disassociating” from Podcast Movement, including canceling our 2023 sponsorship plans.

The Cumulus Podcast Network has been The Daily Wire‘s advertising sales representative since 2016. Additionally, his radio show, The Ben Shapiro Show, has been nationally syndicated through Westwood One since 2019.

Podcast Movement organizers said that attendees and others in the podcast industry that called them out over the incident were right. “In nine wonderful years growing and celebrating this medium, Podcast Movement has made mistakes. The pain caused by this one will always stick with us. We promise that sponsors will be more carefully considered moving forward,” the organization’s statement said.

The Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing fumed about the treatment of his longtime partner at the company’s “Backstage” event last week, calling it “unadulterated bigotry.” On Tuesday, Boreing praised Cumulus and called for other media companies and figures to stand up for free expression, civil discourse, and ideological diversity.

“I’m glad to see our longtime partner Cumulus/Westwood One taking such a strong and public stand against Podcast Movement’s outright and abject bigotry,” Boreing said. “Though Podcast Movement quietly removed their bigoted tweet thread over the weekend, they still have yet to retract and publicly apologize for their hateful comments about Ben Shapiro and The Daily Wire.